Cerebral Knievel:also, as I understand it, while the coils produce MILLIONS of volts, the amps, and the frequencies involved denote them not being THAT dangerous.

I'm sure getting hit directly by one of the electrical "feelers" would make for not having a good day, but the skin effect is not that severe in this case.

would any Fark expert Electrical engineers care to elaborate?

There certainly won't be the amps in those bolts to electrocute him--if they had that much power his suit wouldn't protect him from the sheer amount of energy being released around him. That's a faraday cage, not a NASA heat shield.

RogermcAllen:When you rub your socks on the carpet and shock a doorknob you are experiencing ~10k volts.

And I've experienced something in the proximity of 100kv. If the *BOLT* got you it hurt but the discharge itself you wouldn't even feel. (So long as the bolt came off something you were holding rather than your own skin you wouldn't know it other than seeing/hearing the bolt.)

Our teacher did a demo at around 300kv. He was limping for the rest of the class period because he made a mistake and stepped off his insulator after turning off the generator but he forgot to discharge himself.

farkingismybusiness:I am not a smart man, but I recall seeing a headline lately that stated this stunt will build up ozone in the vicinity, which I guess is a bad thing when it's too close to the ground. But what is stopping us from using this machine higher up in the atmosphere to help repair the ozone layer?

1) It's a very inefficient way of producing ozone.

2) You can't effectively fix the ozone layer by adding ozone. The problem is that the ozone layer is dynamic--every time an ozone molecule stops a UV ray it's destroyed in the process. You get an oxygen molecule and a free oxygen atom. That free oxygen atom is *VERY* reactive and will quickly grab onto something. Usually that's another oxygen atom, creating a replacement ozone molecule. Occasionally it's another free oxygen atom, thus losing two ozone molecules from the cycle. Thus ozone is always being destroyed, new ozone is created when an oxygen molecule stops a very hot UV ray and splits into two free oxygen atoms.

The density of the ozone layer is the result of the balance between these two processes. What the "ozone destroying" chemicals do is provide a temporary storage site for a free oxygen atom, thus facilitating the destruction reaction and shifting the balance point.

Anyone who really doesn't like David Blaine for this or that, or that his feats aren't really that impressive should check out this Ted talk he did where he explains himself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFnGhrC_3Gs

He still is a pretty insufferable dick sometimes, but the shiat he does is like a modern day Houdini. Yeah, it's not magic, but it takes incredible amounts of patience and physical toil to do the things.

Cerebral Knievel:also, as I understand it, while the coils produce MILLIONS of volts, the amps, and the frequencies involved denote them not being THAT dangerous.

I'm sure getting hit directly by one of the electrical "feelers" would make for not having a good day, but the skin effect is not that severe in this case.

would any Fark expert Electrical engineers care to elaborate?

It only takes a few milliamps of electrical current to stop your heart. The trick that Blaine is using is to surround himself in a cage suit so that most if not all the current passes around him and not through him. Something that guys that work on high voltage lines have done for decades. The only trick I can see him doing is sleep depriving himself for 36 hours.